PLEDGE TO AMERICA
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This blog originally founded by Blogger who holds a theological degree and a doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Taught Psychology for 32 years and is now Professor Emeritus. Is a board-certified psychologist and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in his profession. Ministered as a chaplain, and pastored Baptist and Episcopal churches. Publications cover the integration of psychology and theology. Served in the Army, the Merchant Marines and the Peace Corps.

How is the murder of a diplomat by unaffiliated civilians constitute an act of war? was the murder of Meir Kahane an act of war by the US against Israel just because it happened on US Soil. While it is truly said that muslims would resort to violence and we lost one of our diplomats, the jump to act of war is nothing but political chicanery. Please note the timeline - the apology over the video came before the attacks and acknowledged the deeply held beliefs of the people. This is nothing but political fodder.

Happy- You may be too young to remember the Iran Hostage Crisis. Carter's display of cowardice gave the radical Islamists their start.It was an embassy taken over by civilians. It is an act of war just as if they invaded this country. It matters not if they are in the host country's uniform. It is the responsibility of the host government to prevent and protect.

Happy- If you are too young to remember Carter's cowardice, you can at least now witness what Obama's soft approach to Muslim countries when on his apology tour at the beginning of his term hath wrought.

The only order I didn't follow in the military was when ordered to ride shotgun on a deuce and a half carrying M-16s with an unloaded gun during the time Obama's buddy and terrorist William Ayers was openly attacking America.If it turns out the USMarines guarding the embassy were not allowed to carry loaded weapons, as rumored, Hillary has got to be imprisoned.

Unemployment still over 8%.Median income down over $4000.Highest % of Americans below the poverty line in 50 years.National debt over $16 trillion with more than $1 million in new debt every minute with no significant discernable benefit.No federal budget passed in over three years (including the last year democrats controlled both houses of Congress AND the White House).Democrats have complete control of the federal government Obama's first two years.Gas prices approaching $4/ gallon.Higher overall food and energy prices (which are not a part of the government's core inflation measure).An American ambassador murdered on the 9/11 anniversay (and the President takes off for Vegas).Mobs attacking our embassies in several Middle Eastern states.The President refusing to grant a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister.The President spends more time playing golf than meeting with his economic council.

Unless you are just a diehard liberal,how can anyone argue that Obama deserves a second term???

HM, first of all the assassination of our diplomat may or may not have been committed by unaffiliated civilians. If they were trained at a facility that the Libyan government knew of and did nothing to sop, they were not unaffiliated.

"WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The murder of America's ambassador to Libya and three other U.S. citizens in the north African country late Tuesday night may have been planned and organized in advance, and not the result of an angry mob, according to U.S. officials." - News World

As far as I know, the U.S. government did not murder Meir Kahane. I beleive he was killed by an Arab.

In any event, the attack at the U.S. embassy in Egypt was an attack on our soil. The statement about training and the responsibility of the host government also holds true in this case.

If either government was in any way involved (even by omission), it was an act of war committed by that government.

And in the final case, it was an attack just as 9-11 started the war on terror. Note the word war.

Remember Obama said he wanted war with Pakistan. They now consider us their greatest enemy. Will the liberals support Obama in this war... if he can get it going before the election or end of his only term?

Sark and Guy - "It is the responsibility of the host government to prevent and protect." If I am not mistaken Libya has already arrested four of the perpetrators. Please explain why we need to wage war about this. You are so quick to declare war when it is simply a matter of the perpetrators being arrested. Seems like you too are quick to pull a trigger without aiming first. Obama also sent in the marines and drones to deal with the situation. Please explain what more he should have done in this situation. Maybe he should have just nuked the place. Maybe this is why people like you should not be in leadership positions when it comes to military decisions.

HM, please note for me where I said we needed to wage war with Libya. We need to eliminate the people that caused this. If Libya is involved even by omission, so be it. If not, then once again I must draw your attention to the WAR on terror.

Once again, we disagree. People such as Sark and I are exactly the kind that should be in leadership positions to make military decisions. If we were, then we would not have to make nearly so many of them.

Th fact that you actually want to wage war with Libya is disturbing. We have diplomats all over the world to prevent people like you from screwing things up. They are called diplomats for a reason. No one wins wars. Our economy is bankrupt mostly due to spending more on defense than the next 20 countries combined. You want to engage in another costly war. It is a waste of money and life fro our precious soldiers. If we think Libya is behind this, lets vacate the country and impose sanctions. If Egypt fails to protect our people there, lets do the same. Why do we have to be over there in the first place? Your precious oil is the answer. Are you ready to give it up and embrace renewable energies? As far as war goes, you can keep it. I am tired of seeing pictures of our veterans with no limbs - maybe you should try it before being so willing to dive into another war.

Guy seems to indicate that Libya is complicit just because they might have trained on their soil - that is the basis of my assertion. If that is the case then the US is complicit in that the 9/11 attackers trained at flight school in Florida. Even if the Libyan Government knew all about it, we just remove all Americans and stop all aid and apply economic and diplomatic sanctions - you don't wage war.

Exactly HM. Besides, there is no way to win a war in the Middle East. When countries are run by dictators and the people's eyes are clouded by hate, it's useless. We should pull all troops and diplomats out, bring them home and impose heavy sanctions on them. Talks come first, then negotiations - not war. We have no business even being there, much less furthering our presence in this matter. Iraq citizens are even chanting in their streets that America is evil after we rid them of a tyrant and helped to establish their government. We appear to them that way, as they feel all Americans are at fault for offending their prophet. They don't understand how free speech works in America and we do not understand them.

HM, you are stretching (to be charitable) by comparing a commercial flight school with a terrorist training base. This is beneath you. You can and usually do make better arguments than that.

I notice you have no rejoinder for the "if you want peace, prepare for war" concept.

We certainly do not have to be over there for anything other than humanitarian reasons. We have plenty of oil we can develop in this country if the government will get out of the way. Are you against humanitarian aide to this region and if so why?

I will grant you the militant brand of Muslims do not want us there, but it is my understanding that many others do. These include those that would allow women in the region at least some degree of rights.

In any case, nothing changes the fact we were attacked and it was an act of war. Now the problem is how to retaliate against the attackers. An apology tour is not going to work.

I will ignore the children in hopes of continuing a very interesting adult discussion.

About the oil thing, if the US produced every drop of oil that is available, it would go to the international market, of which we are all dependent. Unless, of course, you would support the nationalization of oil resources. Only then would the US be oil independent. The US does not own the oil produced, oil companies do.

ITCM says we need to get out of the Middle East. It may happen. But remember 9/11. They came here. Remember the terrorist attack at Ft Hood and the recruiting office and all the attempts. Who and what will run us out of other parts of the world? Weakness invites aggression. We are witnessing it. Remember Hitler and Tojo... they kept expanding their conquests. The "sleeping giant" awoke and put an end to it. It was almost too late as we were pretty much loosing the war at first. If there had been intercontinental ballistic missiles then, and we took Happy's advice and spent our money on other than military might, we would have lost our country to the NAZIs. Gays would not only not be allowed to marry, they would be gassed. We were lucky, because there were Happy's then, but no long range bombers or ICBMs. We had time to build up military might... but barely.

That is funny, there was another hardcore liberal who made almost identical comments as the liberal Opoib about femininity etc. The comments could be taken as anti-feminine or anti-gay, but everyone knows liberals can't be bigots... no matter what they say.

DopieoNo homophobes here. I'm fine with your lifestyle. Doesn't effect me if you want to be gay. Whatever your preference ok by me! (But I really don't think you have a chance with Sark, maybe you should try aiming a little lower).

"Obviously, the answer you are looking for is to eradicate or re-educate muslims."

Does this mean you approve of the manner in which Muslim extremists treat women? Do you not think they need some education?

The only time you "eradicate" someone is when they give you no choice, such as when they commit an act of war against you. Not all Muslims by any means have done this. Terrorists , maybe backed by governments have.

Opoib, don't worry about these bullies - they spend too much time watching old sitcoms.

Unfortunately, there are extremists just as severe in the U.S. as we are witnessing around the world right now (The Westboro idiots come to mind). The question is how to stop them. Education is key, of course. However, we'll never educate past a belief system. I think that many of the Islamic faith take their scriptures a bit more seriously than Christians. For example, when the Koran teaches its followers to kill unbelievers or to strike terror into God's enemies, well...that's what they are doing. That's also what they are teaching their children as witnessed today in the Australia protests.

The Bible contains more verses that urge or praise bloodshed than the Koran and the stories are more extreme. The Bible's God orders women, children, whole races, and even livestock exterminated. One delightful verse discusses the praising of those who would seize Babylon's infants and smashing their heads against the rocks. So, how did Christians get past the violence and not take every part of the Bible as the divine orders of God?

That is where the Islamic faith has to reach - but unfortunately, they're about 500 years behind Christianity.

ITCM- Where in the USA are people rioting and burning down foreign embassies and killing ambassadors? When did it happen in the USA? Was it after Pearl Harbor? OWS is the closest you could get to this and even those weenies aren't killing diplomats. Did the Westboro people burn anything down, kill anyone, rape a news reporter in the streets?

Sark, when people feel that their religious rights are violated, they are going to respond in aggressive ways - even in the good 'ol USA. The Bible Riots - dozens were killed, towns ransacked and churches destroyed...all in the name of religion.

ITCM- You may have rooted up an acorn. You have to go back to the early19th century (pre-Civil War) in US history to come up with some kind of lame analogy. The Radical Muslims act like they are in the 16th century. We are now in the 21st century.

Anonymous 12:11 “There is no god.” Anonymous, it is inspiring to have you quoting from the Holy Scriptures, but you left out a portion of the verse. It reads “ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Psalms 14:1

OPIOP...let me try ONE LAST time to be serious with you. We had some discussions on a previous post ( http://wataugarepubs.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-word-about-trolling.html ) which,I would suggest you maybe review one more time. In the responses on that thread, you asked

"Newguy does this mean if i post on topic even if it is not inline with fox news talking points i will not be censored ? ".

I haven't found that you have been very interested in posting anything "on topic" since then. More likely your posts avoid discussion of any topic contained in the thread and concentrate instead on name calling, insults and obscenities that make me wonder if you are just intentionally trying to see how far you can push.

I have, on one or two occassions on this and other blogs, seen posts from you which would seem to indicate that you are in fact capable of engaging in rational conversation. Why don't you give that a try? Drop the childish behaviour, the name calling, the blustering about "meeting people in a public place" and join the community here.

The choice is yours but, I will remind you, it may be easier to just remove your posts than it is to continue trying to encourage you to engage in civil discussion.

And be assured, I don't intend to delete your posts after a "post by post" review!...If you insist on maintaining "troll status" and continue to troll, I will just begin deleting without regard to the content of an individual post

You do, of course, have the option to post what you want on your own blog and perhaps if there are others of similar minds to yours, they will engage you there.

And, if I have the need to address you in the future, I will try to get your "screen mane" right and I will try to work on my typing "sills". I know how embarrassing it must be for you to make typos or spelling mistakes when you are trying to criticize the typos or spelling mistakes of others. I will endeavor to not put myself in that position.